1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of televised programs recording and playback. More specifically, the present invention relates to method and apparatus for deferred selective viewing of televised programs.
2. Background Information
Today, virtually every household in the U.S. has at least one television set (TV) and a video cassette recorder (VCR). One popular usage of the VCR is to record televised programs for deferred viewing. Televised programs are recorded for deferred viewing for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is because the programs are broadcast during work hours, other times it is because the programs are broadcast at the same time other programs that are of equal interest are being broadcast. The kind of programs VCR owners record also run a full gamut from sport programming to day time soap operas. The televised programs may be recorded off a cable system, directly from the air wave or even directly from satellite transmission. Typically, at a later convenient time, VCR owners would then rewind the recording cassettes, and play back the recorded televised programs for viewing.
This prior art manner of recording televised programs for deferred viewing has a number of disadvantages. First and foremost, the capability for selective viewing is virtually non-existing. The only "selective viewing" capability available is to play back the recorded program, and fast forward on the segments that are of no interest. Often times, a viewer may find himself and herself spending a substantial amount of time in fast forwarding just to see a few short segments of the recorded program that are of interest. For example, a football fan might find himself/herself fast forwarding most of a three hour long recording of a defense dominated ball game that is of no interest to him/her, just to see a few exciting third down plays. As another example, worst yet, a soap opera fan might find himself/herself fast forwarding an entire hour of recording to find out that the character most interested to him/her was not involved in any of the scenes in today's broadcast.
Thus, it is desirable to be able to defer view televised programs in a more selective manner. Since the medium of delivery for televised programs, the number of channels, and the amount of programming are expected to continue to increase in an ever more rapid rate, the ability to defer view televised programs in a selective manner is expected to become even more desirable. The recent advances in desktop computing technology and its merging with television technology have created an opportunity to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art manner of deferred viewing televised programs. As will be disclosed in more details below, the present invention, exploiting recent advances in computing and television technology, provides for such an improved method and apparatus for deferred selective viewing of televised programs that achieves these and other desired results.